Virtual currency regulatory and tax landscape unclear, say experts
Lawyers, analysts, academics and government officials debated the regulatory implications of bitcoin today - and none of them seemed to agree. In a panel at the Inside Bitcoins conference, one of the big sticking points was FinCEN's attitude to miners. One speaker even suggested that the whole guidance could be challenged. Following the release of the FinCEN guidance for virtual currencies on March 18, people began questioning whether bitcoin miners would be categorized as money producers. "FinCEN will be fairly stable" said Jacob Farber, senior counsel for lawyer Perkins Coie LLP. "There....
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Earlier today, Congressman Stockman (TX-36) announced on his website in a press release that he plans to introduce the "Virtual Currency Tax Reform Act." I wish he had taken it a step further and called it the "Digital Currency Tax Reform Act," but one can only have so many wins in a day. This piece of legislation, if enacted, would revise the IRS Virtual Currency Guidance released very late last month. Instead of treating virtual currencies such as Bitcoin as property, the Virtual Currency Tax Reform Act will call for their treatment as currency. The exact text of the proposed legislation....
Wells Fargo bank has assembled a group of experts that met in San Francisco today to discuss the "rules of engagement" for bitcoin, the company has confirmed. Digital currency experts, executives from the finance industry, and members of the US government are all said to be on the action team to discuss the bank's attitude to bitcoin in the future. The group was assembled by Jim Richards, the head of anti-money-laundering at the bank. "We are gathering a group of internal and external experts and interested parties to help us understand virtual currencies as well as the digital currency....
The North Carolina Commissioner of Banks has released a document specifying in plain English what the virtual currency exemptions are according to its Money Transmitters Act (NC MTA): virtual currency miners. Blockchain 2.0 technologies; multi-signature software; and non-hosted, non-custodial wallets are generally not subject to the NC MTA. The clarification of its position on virtual currency comes at a time when most states have withdrawn from comment nearly altogether, in a wait-and-see-what-everyone-else-is-doing kind of approach. Or, in the case of New York, BitLicense has addressed....
View the full video of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on virtual currencies here. Don't bother running from regulation, said an influential agency director at a key government hearing on Monday 18th November - because in the long term, there's nowhere to hide. FinCEN director Jennifer Shasky Calvery warned virtual currency companies against fleeing US shores in the hope of more lenient regulatory frameworks elsewhere. "If business is going to leave the United States based on perceived or actual regulatory burden, I always believe that they're going....
Latin America held its first forum discussion on the financial and regulatory environment for virtual currencies in the continent. The organizers aptly named the forum, “Latin American Forum on Virtual Currencies,” and put an effort to bring Bitcoin advocates and Latin American governments together. With BitLicense hogging the headlines in the Bitcoin ecosystem, this recent development in the South America was unable to make to get much traction in the news. The forum was a one-day discussion on the financial and regulatory environment in Latin America. The event was cosponsored by Bitcoin....